Today, I’d like your advice and tips on how to handle split parties.

Daniel S. writes:

“How can I make everyone happy when groups are split in their decisions for destinations and plans?”

One tip I have is to go around the table and give each split-off player or sub-group a bit of spotlight time.

GM them for a short period, then find the perfect moment and switch the spotlight to the next player(s).

What’s the perfect time?

At a cliffhanger, naturally.

Switch the spotlight just before:

• An important dice roll
• An important result from you
• A key character decision
• A key NPC decision or action
• Revelation of a fact
• Just after revealing a twist
• Just after revealing a clue

All these situations have something in common: an open loop.

An open loop happens when a situation we’re interested in goes unresolved.

Our brains desperately want closure. It’s how we’re wired.

We have to know what happens – to shine light in dark corners – or we feel tension.

And our brains work overtime to resolve that tension.

Storytellers have known this for ages, and use it to keep their audience glued to their words.

Learn how to spot open loops and how to create them. Instead of telling a split player what’s around the corner, tell the player they hear a creepy noise, and then switch the spotlight.

In RPG, we are blessed with many opportunities to do this. Dice roll results, player questions, character actions.

Learn how to hint at answers and switch the spotlight smoothly.

This is effective with non-split groups too. Create temporary moments of tension, call breaks at such times and end sessions at these moments.

But with split groups, this open loop technique is also effective at keeping everyone at the table interested. Players without the spotlight want to learn what happens to the others and their unresolved loops.

Around and around you go until the party is united once more.

Over to you now. What tips do you have for Daniel on how to handle split parties?

I was wondering how I could do a chase scene in one of my campaigns.

My dilemma is that chase scenes are supposed to be fast and action packed, no dull parts or slow parts.

But with Pathfinder’s usual movement rules, it’s too boring and my players lose interest.

Thanks for the request, Devon.

Readers, we’ve had car chase tips in the newsletter, but not fantasy-based tips.

I’m especially interested in chase scenes involving villains on foot. Those seem to be rare and difficult to pull off.

I look forward to reading your tips below!

Image credit: Patrick Crusiau

A couple weeks ago I sent out a Reader Tip Request for the spouse of a GM in need. The game master was having problems reacting to in-game events. He needed to think faster – or different – on his feet so he could handle unexpected player decisions and actions better.

Here’s the request from RPT Reader F.:

Reader Tip Request: Thinking Fast on Your Feet

Hello! I’ve been subscribed to your tips for awhile now and I’ve enjoyed them and found them useful. I don’t have much experience GMing myself, but my husband has GMed for years. The only problem is, due to a brain tumor and other brain trauma, he doesn’t think as fast anymore.

He’s tried GMing again and he just can’t keep good control of the party. He says he has to plan out every possible avenue players may take in detail beforehand because he can’t think on his feet well enough (and that would take a long time).

It’s either that or he has to shoehorn the party and make the story too linear (which most parties won’t like and many will try to break it without even knowing what they’re doing).

He designs his own adventures. He has difficulty figuring out what happens after each encounter.

But the biggest problem is keeping players in line. Because it takes him a few extra moments to think about what happens next, the players tend to steamroll ahead before he’s ready (which causes him to have to rethink everything he has just come up with, which takes more time).

I play in his games and try to moderate when I can (I know what he looks like when he’s having a hard time) but it doesn’t always work out.

He’s just gotten so defeated that he feels like he can never GM again, and I want to show him that he can.

I was wondering if you or the community have any tips or tricks to try and help him? Thanks for your help.

- RPT Reader F.

Below are the responses I received by email. Lots of great advice in there! And feel free to add a tip of your own.

Written by Phil Vecchione, the 127 page book is carved into three main sections:

• Understanding Prep
• Prep Toolbox
• Evolving Your Style

There are also meta pages covering references, intro, conclusion, index and so on.

While reading the Understanding Prep section, I came across three pain points of typical game preparation in a section titled “You’re Doing It Wrong.”

A light bulb went off and I wanted to delve deeper into the biggest mistakes I (and maybe you) make when handling preparation for games.

This article, then, covers the three insightful GM prep pain points Phil identifies, plus a couple of personal ones from my own book of mistakes!

But before diving into today’s dish of prep faux pas, I wanted to call out a couple of quotes from Never Unprepared.

Prep = Confidence

The first quote tells us the key benefit of game prep is confidence:

“The goal of prep is to give the GM a level of comfort through the understanding that all the information they need to run the game as smoothly as possible is readily at hand.”

I agree very much with this, that good prep gives you a feeling of confidence. A sign you are preparing for game sessions well is you feel confident going into the game session.

You feel like you can handle whatever the players throw at you. You feel you’ll weave great tales of adventure with your players based on your ideas and designs. And you feel great about the materials you’ll need to play the game well.

Herein lies a gem from Phil’s advice.

If your goal of prep is confidence, then you just need to figure out what makes you confident going into each session. Once you know that, you know exactly what to prep!

For example, maybe you run a game with a good amount of crunch in it, like Pathfinder or D&D. Confidence for you might mean rules mastery and a pool of pre-designed game elements, such as NPC stat blocks.

Or perhaps confidence for you means having a published adventure primed to run – studied, tweaked and ready to serve up like a hot dish of roasted PCs (with a touch of pepper).

Alternatively, confidence might mean having a bullet list of ideas and a map in your back pocket.

The lesson here is to figure out what makes you confident, for once we delve into our own recipes of confidence I bet we’re each different. So no one can tell you exactly what you need to prepare for you to feel confident.

If you are unsure, you can check out books like Never Unprepared or the Adventure Creation Handbook to give you ideas.

When running games, be sure to note the parts where you stumbled and a bit more prep could’ve helped. Track these moments and make a pre-session prep checklist for yourself. Improve your checklist over time until it becomes the perfect prep recipe for you.

Silence Is Death

“GMing is in many ways like radio, where silence is death.When [silence] happens, immersion is broken and the gaming table slowly devolves into building dice towers, book flipping, and sidebar conversations.Prep is what prevents those moments of silence.”

I thought this was great advice from the book. Great job, Phil.

When I read this I put my iPad down and thought about it. Is silence really a bad thing?

My conclusion: if not used for dramatic effect or as a short bit of player recovery after something intense, then yes, silence is death.

Silence caused by GM hesitation kills table energy. Hesitation can happen for a variety of reasons:

• If you get stuck and can’t think of what happens next, the ensuing awkward silence is hard to bear.
• If you get stumped on a rule, the silence caused from all the research deflates the game.
• If you can’t find what you’re looking for in your notes or book or adventure, the pause diffuses attention and excitement.

The first bullet is perhaps your worst GMing nightmare. Mental writer’s block. A creative stumper.

One solution to all those potential silent killers is good game prep.

And that falls back to who you are as a game master and what you need to feel confident, because confidence puts you in a frame of mind where you never get stumped. You are in the zone and have super recall. You handle tricky situations like rules issues with ease.

“Bob, would you mind double-checking that rule while I do a quick aside with Frank as he checks the locked box for traps?”

The Four Key Qualities Of Prep

Finally, I want to pull a model out of the book for you, as I think it’s a great way to think about the carrier waves of game prep.

I was going to call these four things goals. But we already have a goal for prep: confidence.

Therefore, these four things are the paths to confidence, sort of like carrier waves. Do these, and you’ll feel confident.

So, the four qualities of great game prep are:

• Accessible – What you’ve prepared must be available during games when needed.
• Organized – Find stuff fast.
• Effective – What you’ve prepared must actually be useful to you during games.
• Reliable – Your stuff is safe and secure (back your computer up now!)

Nail these, and you will be a confident GM.

Now, onto the big mistakes of game prep.

Mistake #1: Writing Too Much

“This is the most common reason that GMs dislike prep: They are simply writing too many notes.”

Good call.

Have you ever written a huge background for an NPC, place or item, then realized how little time is left before game day, so you start scrambling?

I recall writing session logs that took a whole week, which left me no time to get ready for next session.

I also remember writing vast histories for a homebrew game world called Seven Cities. All that writing left me exhausted and not interested in doing anything else to prep for a while. The irony?

I wrote about the creation of the universe and the formation of the gods. That’s it. I was exhausted and I had not even started writing about the lands of the Seven Cities and the kind of games and adventures that might take place there. I got stalled in meta land.

So, if you feel pressure to write a lot to be prepared, and this makes you procrastinate, then stop writing. It’s not necessary.

However, if you love creative writing like I do, then writing a lot about your campaign is great as long as you manage your time and energy well.

I find writing helps me explore the setting and its peoples better than any other activity. It’s better than just reading a whole bunch and trying to absorb all the details.

When I write and create my own stuff, I have better, longer recall of it. It becomes part of me – I just “know it” when the time comes to use it for prep or during games.

But each to his own.

The Solution

• Find your sweet spot between creating enough details to feel confident and not writing so many details that you run out of time or energy to be fully ready for next session.
• If you like to write, create a To Do list of what you need to do to be ready for next session. Then put time limits on your creative writing sessions so you leave enough time for the other stuff.
• Try to do a lot of creative writing before you start campaigns. Use this activity to set a strong foundation of knowledge and readiness, so prep you need to do during the campaign is diminished and easier.
• Through experimentation, learn what notes style helps you GM best. For example, I’ve found bullets work better for read aloud text than full paragraphs.
• Consider using stat blocks more often for various game elements. I’ve published a few stat blocks for different types of game elements in past emails. Stat blocks create consistent information entries, such as for NPCs and items, and can forestall the need to do a lot of writing because of the efficient format.

Mistake #2: Poor Tools, or Tools You Are Not Excited About

Try sawing a board with a hammer. You need the right tool for the job. The wrong tool will leave you frustrated, ineffective as GM and stressed out when you prep.

You should not only consider the physical properties of a tool, but choose a tool and preparation system you enjoy using. A tool you hate lies unused.

For example, you might use your computer for preparation, but not have it available at the game table, so you need to print everything out, which is always a last-minute mess.

Or, you might have five different pieces of software for notes and idea capture, making consolidation a nightmare.

I use MyInfo software for prep (plus some helper software and websites). But I’m always tempted to use a GM binder. And I also love the idea of going back to index cards.

Reverting to a binder or card boxes would be a mistake though, because then I’d have information sprawl – some information on a computer and some on paper or cards.

Plus, I love the search, tag and customization features of MyInfo, so it’s a tool I’m always excited about.

The Solution

• Experiment with different methods of preparation and organization for a while. Then pick what you like best.
• Stick with your decision! No system is perfect. Do not think the grass is greener on the other side. That will always be true. Stick with your chosen system and make it work for you, or risk getting bit by Mistake #2.
• Understand what you need from your prep tools:
  • Inspiration (i.e., generators, news sites)
  • Idea capture
  • Reference (i.e., gazetteer, cast of NPCs, plotline)
  • In-game note taking
  • Crunch (i.e., bestiary, NPC stat blocks)
    Then pick your tool(s) of choice.
• Avoid flip-flopping between tools (see bullet #2 above). For example, quit downloading notes apps and just pick one and stick with it. The more you use a tool, the more you will master it and learn how to make it work best for you.

Mistake #3: Not Understanding Your Creative Cycle and Schedule

Prepping while tired makes you dislike prep and it generates poorer results.

Some people are better in the morning, some in the evening. You might work better on weekends, or perhaps a half hour a day right after work or school helps you unwind *and* get prep done.

Never Unprepared goes into detail about your creative cycles and taking best advantage of them, which is great.

The book also guides you through schedule creation. Author Phil has a project management background, and he brings that to bear in his top-down approach to figuring out a schedule that helps you take best advantage of your peak creativity times.

I think just calling out that you have periods of higher creativity is brilliant. Once you realize, “Yeah, I am more creative when hooked up to my coffee intravenous each morning” you gain a key personal insight you can take advantage of for better game prep.

For me, I’ve tried the top-down approach of figuring out a weekly schedule and I have a slightly different angle.

Instead of making a calendar and filling in all the time boxes, I decide when I’ll do game prep each week and book an appointment with myself. I carve out this time and have everything else work around it, letting it all sort itself out.

I used to spend time each morning before work doing prep. But recently I’ve switched to after work. I get home from work, do a half hour of prep, then a half hour of exercise, and then I’m ready for whatever the evening has in store for me.

The end result is the same. Whether you fill in a whole calendar or just carve out protected time, you set yourself up for success.

The Solution

• Determine when you are most creative, inspired and interested in doing game prep. If unknown, experiment. Know thyself!
• You might have different strengths and preferences at different times. For example, mornings are my idea times, and afternoon breaks are great for organizing and research. Evenings are good for crunch. That’s me. How about you?
• Make a schedule or book an appointment with yourself. Either way, protect your prep time and keep appointments with yourself – don’t be a no-show.
• Always be thinking. I do a lot of prep just by thinking and imagining when my hands are busy but my brain is idle, such as while mowing the lawn. When it comes time to put fingers to keyboard, I already have a lot figured out.

* * *

Thanks again to Martin for the review copy of Never Unprepared: The Complete
Game Master’s Guide to Session Prep. The book is available now for preorder.

I promised you five GM prep mistakes. I’ve covered the three mentioned in Never Unprepared today.

In another post, I’m going to talk about two others I’ve learned the hard way over the years.

The first is called Not Rewarding Yourself.

Many GMs don’t like preparation. I was not a fan of it myself for awhile. And my games suffered because of it.

You might be great at ad libbing and running from just a few ideas written on a napkin.

But I feel a little preparation helps even those GMs who can wing everything.

• Adding a bit of polish to your ideas will make them gleam even brighter.
• Connecting more dots between sessions will turn you into a storytelling genius.
• And showing up to a session organized, prepared and confident will help you have even more fun every game.

Once I clued into the proper mindset for preparation, my whole game changed. Yours will too.

Stay tuned!

Danny Iny of Firepole Marketing sent me an advanced copy of his new manifesto, Naked Marketing, which is a smart take on getting new customers. A major premise of his naked marketing model is your business must attract like-minded customers.

Make a perfect match between you and your ideal customers so your business relationships are healthy, fulfilling and profitable.

Attract Like-Minded Players for Great Gaming

So too it is with game mastering and forming a group. Roleplaying games at their core are social activities. And they are prone to the same relationship problems that businesses face when working with the wrong types of customers.

For example, if the game master is at odds with a player, that conflict will come out during gameplay. And everyone’s game experience will suffer for it. Likewise, conflict between two players will ruin everyone’s fun from all the negative emotions of the table.

The secret is to attract people who believe what you believe makes for great gaming.

I once had a GM who was very controlling and who made his homebrew game world the star of the show. He would manipulate gameplay to protect his game world and ideas from us meddling players.

At first I thought this was just a temporary phase while everyone in the new group got to know each other.

However, third game in and it was getting even worse. And regrettably, my behavior worsened, which everyone picked up on. At the halfway point of the third session I realized I could not continue on like this. I was being disrespectful to the game master, my fellow players and myself.

After the game, I mentioned to the game master that could not continue to play due to a difference in styles. We had a bit of a conversation but there was animosity. I always remember how uncomfortable I felt during these games. And I’m not proud at how things ended, with me reaching a frustration point so high I had to quit.

Danny’s advice in Naked Marketing last week created an Aha! moment for me.

You need to gather like-minded gamers around your table for the best gaming.

How do you do this? Danny has the solution. Read on.

Who Would You Game Naked With?

In Naked Marketing, Danny asks “Who do you want to see naked?” The clever metaphor makes sense when you think about it. Who wants ugly customers, where ‘ugly’ means the wrong type or people who do not want what you’re offering?

“Everyone has a ‘type’ they find attractive – a combination of hundreds of different traits and features,” Danny says. “Just as we each have our unique personal tastes in romantic partners, we also each have a specific type of customer that is an especially good fit for our business.”

I believe we also have personal tastes in the kind of people we enjoy gaming most with. When everybody is having fun because they are kindred gaming spirits, conflict and “problem player” issues fly 300 feet per round out the window.

Who is your perfect kind of player? Who is their perfect kind of game master?

Become an Attraction Magnet

The solution for all GMs who have trouble with their gaming groups:

Become an attraction magnet for your perfect player.

If you attract the kind of players who thrive under your GMing style, and if you attract the kind of players that you enjoy GMing for, you have a recipe for a tight knit group of friends who game exceptionally well together and create memorable game sessions.

Think about it for a moment. If you are doing things to attract the wrong kind of player to your group, then you are sabotaging your efforts before you even get a chance to GM!

Likewise, if you just settle for the first d6 players who show up to game, you are taking a big chance there will be no clash in gaming preferences, which is not likely.

Instead, if you take care to present yourself and your gaming tastes honestly and openly, then you’re going to increase your chances of attracting the type of player who will become best friends and best gaming buddies.

This goes beyond game system and genre preference. Conflict bubbles up from issues deeper than that, such as why you game.

For example, if you GM to showcase your cool homebrew game world, I guarantee there are people out there who have love to explore and roleplay and interact with such creations. They love the mystery of the unknown and the thrill of discovery. They love to be surprised and entertained by filling in the next hex on the map. Imagine if these people got together to game. Oh the great games that would emerge!

Know Thyself

In Naked Marketing, Danny advises you first get to know yourself. By knowing who you are and what you want, you have a better chance of figuring out who your ideal customer is.

As the game master, you need to do this for yourself. You need to figure out what your GMing strengths are, what your weaknesses are. You need to understand in full your GM traits, tastes and style.

Know thyself is ancient wisdom.

And it’s the first step in the recipe to awesome gaming.

Once you are clear and comfortable about who you are as a game master – naked to yourself with no secrets — you can use this information to figure out what your best player type this.

The key here is authenticity. If you represent your true GMing self to others, then you will attract like-minded individuals for great gaming. It’s that simple.

If you put out false signals, then you will attract the wrong type of people.

For example, you have a player vacancy and let’s say you are the type who likes to be in control.

Coincidentally, this is who I am. I love to design and to construct fun situations on-the-fly based on character actions. Though contradictory, I make these two styles work together well most game nights. But it means I like to have control of various things to blender stuff together successfully according to my design visions.

Back to our example. You like control, so you want to attract the kind of players who are okay with an authoritative GM. But if you tell others you are a relaxed and laid-back sandbox game master who gives control to his players, do you see how that will attract a certain type of player who will ultimately conflict with your needs?

And if a player who learns his potential GM likes to be more of a Hollywood director, whereas his gaming ideals are freedom, randomness and choice…well, you can see where this is headed, right?

You need to be clear on who you are so you can broadcast that and attract players who thrive under your GMing style.

Get naked. Get out your Gem of Seeing. Look at your GMing self.

Differences Create Rich Gaming

Finding your perfect match does not mean all your players must have the same personality type or playing style. The cliché that opposites attract really is true in gaming, and any GM can work with players who present a variety of playing styles and personal traits.

So please do not mistake this as a recipe for tracking down just a limited range of players who have exact specifications.

For example, on the surface you might think you never want a rules lawyer in your group. You worry about rules conflicts, being contradicted in your rulings, and perhaps a bit of munchkin gameplay where they over-optimize their characters.

However, a rules lawyer is a valuable addition to your group. Their expertise makes play so much smoother because you can reach out to them and ask for fast help with rules adjudication.

Forget the term rules lawyer for a second. How do you prefer to play with players who have excellent knowledge of the game rules?

You would likely want to tap into that knowledge. And you have preferences for how that would be done during play. (My preference is to be interrupted and corrected on the spot to help me learn the rules better. Your preference might be for the player to take notes and brief you after each session.)

In this example, what you’re really after is a rules expert who’s willing to work with you and your preferences for handling rules during games. How great would that be? They can rules lawyer their faces off for all you care as long as they stick to the agreement you have about how this happens during games.

Be Transparent

Get clear on who you are as a game master and be transparent about that in your quest for new players. This helps others self select as potential candidates for your group. This not only increases your chances of attracting the perfect type of player for you, but it can save a whole lot of uncomfortable gaming before the typical problem player situation arises.

For example, if I put a classified ad in one of the many player finder sites out there, I want to be clear and honest on the kind of games I run so that players can decide if they’re the right GM for them.

I might say I prefer linear style adventures because it makes preparation and planning faster for me so I can put more time into fleshing out cool game elements because of the certainty this type of GMing provides.

This declaration will weed out players who prefer sandbox type of campaigns, where characters can do anything in the game world you present and which often results in PCs doing the exact opposite of what you have planned for.

Again, this does not mean you only have a narrow range of player types you can work with. It just means you attract players who align with the spirit of the type of games you prefer to run.

So when you talk about your game, you would not say, “Rules lawyers need not apply.” That’s not the case at all.

You might say something like, “I work well with players who have mastered the game rules and who would enjoy helping me run a smooth game session.” Such a player and I would work out how to handle rulings before the campaign so we could team up to make sure our game is a well oiled machine.

If you went around and told everyone you hate players who contradict your rulings during games, you risk attracting players who don’t know the rules. Or you risk attracting players who lack the confidence to speak up about rulings during the games.

In this way, your naked marketing of yourself and your player opportunity will be sabotaged. And then you repeat the cycle of attracting a player who conflicts with you and your group. And before long, you are looking for to fill an empty chair again.

Be honest about your game mastering and put that out there. It will save you a lot of work and bad gaming.

Just be yourself (and be honest with yourself) when questing for new players or groups to join. This will help you attract – and be attracted to – gamers with similar styles and preferences. This will save you from many false starts and problem player experiences.

I wish you great gaming, my friend. It’s such a wonderful hobby rich with great people, imagination and fun times.

by The Roleplaying Tips Community

Lots of great tips from subscribers in this Flash Back Friday submission,covering everything from being sick of gaming to having writer’s block. I hope the cure for you lies herein!

Note on Navigation: To quickly move between readers’ emails, use your application’s Find or Search feature and look for @@@@@@. I have purposely used six ‘at signs’ because they do not appear in anyone’s post and will not confuse searching.

@@@@@@

From: Craig P.

As a player in a long running campaign (20+ years) may I
make some suggestions to avoid burn-out based on our GM?

1. Be open to new players. The GM and I are the only
original members of the campaign. New players bring in a
different style and feeling with their characters, adding
new interests for both GM and the other players.

2. Nurture new characters. As you can imagine, after 20
years there has been what seems like hundreds of player
characters. It is easy for both players and GMs to get
bored with a character after months or years of playing.
(This is much easier with a skill-based system than a level
based one. A well rounded 100pt GURPS character can
contribute almost as much as a 300pt one.)
3. Encourage players to help build the world. It is
impossible to work out every detail of your world. Allowing
the players to participate in the creation gives them an
investment in the world. One of my characters became the
leader of one of the main cities in the campaign, giving me
the opportunity to flesh out the entire governing system.

4. “Play” NPCs. There is usually little objection to the GM
running a well thought out NPC, especially if it fills a
hole in the party composition. Just make sure he doesn’t try
to solve all the party problems. Player characters can also
change to NPCs when the player leaves the group. The GM has
a ready-made NPC complete with background, personality and a
connection to the party. Retired characters can also turn
into Semi-NPCs, being still run by the player but showing up
just occasionally.

5. Ask the players. When a dry spell hits, ask the players
what direction they would like the campaign to go. Their
ideas may jump-start a whole new chapter.

6. Take a break. There is nothing wrong with taking a hiatus
in playing. Our longest break was nearly a year as various
personal things got in the way. If you keep in touch with
the players, you can pick up again as soon as things
improve.

@@@@@@

From: Cameron Goble

Hey Johnn,

Our group’s GM has been a real trooper. Week after week he’s
had good story and development, he’s plotted out at least
three ways for our party to go, and he’s always up on the
rules he’ll need to bring into play. But in the face of a
40+ hour per week day job, a fiancée, and other things out
there in the real world, the prospect of keeping up with
everything was getting to be tough on him.

Our solution was to have two games with separate GMs going
within the same group. When one game reached a narrative
appropriate point to stop for a while (generally after three
or four sessions), the GM would step down and become a
player in the other game, while one of the players would
turn into the GM of his own game for a while. Two separate
story lines, two GMs doing their own thing, two totally
different parties.

It’s been working great. Each GM gets to play on the other
side of the screen for a while – our “first” one hasn’t been
a player for years, and I think it’s really reinvigorated
him. Also, he gets a couple of weeks to cool down, go over
his story line, and spend time cooking up our next adventure
without having to worry about time constraints. When his
game starts up again; he always presents a polished, well-
constructed scenario for us. Perhaps one of the contributing
factors to GM Burnout is the constant sense of flying by the
seat of one’s pants – having a couple weeks break seems to
get around this problem.

It works well preventing player burnout too: everyone gets
to shift party roles every few weeks, as nobody plays the
same type of character in both games. We’re an experimental
bunch of players, so we get to explore lots of different
ways to play characters.

The reason we started doing this, by the way, was to work
our way into using the 3rd edition D20 rules. Our game had
been 2nd Edition AD&D, and when D20 came out, we didn’t want
to have to switch our beloved characters out without knowing
exactly what we were doing, so a separate D20 game was
started. Now both games are D20, and the benefit is that if
the actual GM doesn’t know a particular rule off-hand,
chances are the playing GM will. Our games have therefore
been very balanced, and we haven’t had a confrontation over
rules interpretation yet.

Thanks for the great work you’re doing!

@@@@@@

From: Tom Z.

If you’re burned out on the original theme then start again,
but within the same setting and campaign. If you used the
Vikings example then rather than trying to emulate Nordic
sagas, switch themes totally. Invade the homelands with
pseudo-Normans and switch to a Robin Hood outlaw game. Turn
on the Cthulhu and start to reveal conspiracies between
sorcerers, priests and unholy sacrifices to unknowable gods,
or even suggest that Odin himself is an avatar of something
more unknowable. Basically re-invent the campaign as another
game but layered upon the previous one. This actually
creates a deeper and multi-layered game.

1. Research. Watch new films, read new books. Maybe reading
noir detective books can be layered into the game as a
series of dark ages murder investigations. Maybe your dark
vampire game could cope with a touch of super hero inspired
heroism? Keep feeding new and wildly divergent ideas into
your existing maps and cities. SF games can absorb space
dwelling dragons, fantasy can cope with swashbucklers or
espionage.

2. War-game, board game. Buy Hordes of the Things or Chain mail
and run some large battles, tied into the campaign but maybe
without the PCs as heroes. Letting your hair down with what
is a rest from roleplaying but which still builds the
richness of the world. If you play the games straight, with
no PC heroes, the outcomes can be used to spark off new
campaign thrusts.

For example, a set battle between the Necromancer Slarge and
his host of skeletons against the Dwarfs of the Bumpy
Mountains. Play it, have fun, see who wins or loses. But if
the skeletons win, then the campaign will be full of
dispossessed dwarfs looking for work, trouble, help,
finance, revenge. The Bumpy Mountains will be full of
undead, the balance of power will shift, the lands may be
threatened. And the defeat of the Necromancer may reveal a
deadlier threat, the nomadic hordes that his undead zone
held back, or the dwarfs may prove to be not so friendly
with their key enemy gone, and the victorious dwarf forces
may march on the PCs’ homelands. The idea is to relax, let
the PCs play the game, moderate and share the fun, receive
creative input that you can’t wholly predict.

@@@@@@

From: Andy T.

Johnn,

The one thing that I have found to be a sure fire remedy to
lack of inspiration is just to sit back and let somebody
else take the reins for a while. Watch some movies, be a
player, forget the hassles, and relax. Essentially, recharge
your batteries and play the game, have fun and enjoy. If you
don’t enjoy the game you won’t run an enjoyable game. It’s
as simple as that. If you are running a sci-fi stealth game
(i.e. Shadowrun), try some fantasy for a while. If you have
been playing fantasy try some Sci-fi, change tack.

My best, basic tip is to turn the game on its head. Have a
breather, like your favorite TV show for example.
Occasionally they have a weird episode (musical Buffy for
example) and it’s a change of pace, something new and when
you go back to what you are used to, it seems fresh again.
Give it a whirl, have a time out, play a board game. Remember
that too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

@@@@@@

From: Dave W.

Hello there,

Yes indeed I did suffer from burn-out with my games. I had
been playing pretty constantly, 1/week, with 4 friends. I
GMed and I was having a good time for most of those 13-14
years. I had played in a few games but mostly I GMed. Well
we had started a new game, sorta a traditional game meets
Arab/desert world idea. People made characters and we were
playing but things just didn’t fit, didn’t work. I was just
not happy with the game.

So I left fantasy. I played some dark games, Vampire, and
Werewolf, and though they were fun, it just wasn’t the same
grand types of games I had run before. I tried Trinity/Aeon
this was a romp but really nothing great for me. I kept
feeling I lacked or rather my games lacked a certain oomph.

Now, I guess to my credit, players continued wanting to run
games with me as GM. Which I did, but my heart and soul
really weren’t always in it and I could see it even if they
didn’t.

What changed for me was coming up with a new idea, something
I had hashed out in bits with friends over the years. Well
about two years later I had worked on it and I really liked
it! It had a great long term goal, mysteries, and secrets
the party would have to discover, potential for a lot of
growth and interesting (to me) villains and heroes.

D&D 3E was just coming out and I felt this was a great way
to try out an old favorite whom I hadn’t played in nearly 10
years. It has turned out to be great. For me I needed the
background story. Sure there may be parts the players never
learn about, but they don’t need to. I do. It helps me make
my decisions, and where villains do what they do and what
countries are at conflict and why.

Well it has been fun so far and we’re still going.

Thanks for the great info you provide weekly.

@@@@@@

From: Dwayne T.

Hi Johnn,

I just got the new Roleplaying Tips Weekly and it was like
Andrew was an alien who kidnapped me to brain tape my mind
and then give me amnesia so I didn’t know, and then used the
biggest problem that exists in the gaming partition of my
noodle to write about…or maybe it would just be easier to
say he read my mind?

GM burn-out is THE NUMBER 1 BANE OF EVERY CAMPAIGN THAT OUR
GROUP HAS EVER PUT OUT. It has been appearing before we even
begin in my campaigns, but the prologue session of this
radically different post-modern campaign has changed that a
lot.

Last Saturday, we were going to go to a party but it
seems that the hostess did not show up, so it was
unanimously decided (by all but me) that I GM a meeting
between the present players’ (which are all but one)
characters. Despite my total lack of preparation (and my
neurotic fear of trying to get the players to interact
without a plan in my head) the session was a TOTAL success!

I had to introduce a plot thread a little early, but it got
everyone introduced, and most of the characters on one side.
It rocked! And I think that the new genre (as well as some
blunt analysis on my techniques, a reestablishment of
techniques that got players excited and some great advice by
both Robin’s Laws Of Good GMing and…of course…RPTips).

We have one other real GM who always seems too burnout at
the apex of the gaming excitement. It really sucks too,
because he is a spectacular GM who makes every player’s
character who tries to be a good addition to the game feel
like he’s in the limelight. It’s a lot like going on the
roller coaster that you just absolutely know is going to be
the best ever and then stopping just before the big scream.
Not just stopping, but falling out of the carts to fall all
the way to the cement. I have said many times that I will
not play in another of his campaigns because of his
constantly giving up. Isn’t that crazy?

@@@@@@

From: BillyBeanbag

One of the greatest lessons I learned about GM burn-out came
at a time when I was playing instead of running the game.
When I got started in the hobby, I was the first one to own
the books, and for most of my early gaming career, I was
always the one running the games. The few exceptions didn’t
really give me a chance for character development or
progression. So I groomed a replacement and switched sides
of the screen for a while.

What I learned is that at first it’s kind of like a parent
riding beside a young driver who’s learning the skills
needed to make it without you. It can be frustrating and
fun, but eventually you get past that and can relax. In
gaming, the feeling of ‘having to be the GM’ can overshadow
your whole experience. Once I got to play I started
thinking about what it was that I wanted from the game as a
player.

This was a fundamental shift in my thinking that changed the
way I run games as a GM. By listening to the things I
responded most to, and those things that really excited
other players, I got a much better sense of how to put
adventures and campaigns together that will suffer less
burn-out and create memories that people will talk about
years hence.

Just my two coppers’ worth

@@@@@@

From: Simon M.

My History Lesson. It’s happened to me about 3 times. The
first time was when I started college, I got a real social
life and was working in a part time job. Most of my friends
were starting to date girls and there seemed more important
things to do than game.

I return to gaming some 5 years (I was in my mid 20′s) later
when an old friend was cleaning out some junk at his parents’
house in order to move into a small unit. He discovered a
box of gaming stuff. Three weeks later we had a few games &
it set the course for 3 strong years of gaming. AD&D 2nd
Edition had just come out and we were really hooked on
Planescape. Computer games and getting married put an end
to our weekend sessions and it wasn’t until I heard about
D&D 3rd edition in 1999 I came back to gaming.

1. Starting Points & Ideas Fade. This can be stopped &
solved by having well fleshed characters with plenty of
personality traits, backgrounds, convictions, contacts &
family links. Throw stacks of NPCs at your characters & let
“THEM” do the work. Your idea should be brief and simple to
attach them to a part of the story line.

Players are the lifeblood and we all know that factory of
adventure ideas takes a dive at some time. The best thing to
do is to find out what you players are hungry for, then
“FEED” them. Bill likes a dungeon crawl, Jenny likes a
murder mystery, Bob likes long ships & keeps, and lastly
Anna likes dragons & romance. So work with that. Keeping a
campaign fun is hard work and takes a good deal of work &
time. Make sure you know that before starting. If your
personal life is really full with work, studies, children,
and hobbies then it might not be a good for you to run a big
campaign. Stick to small short Quests. Don’t start something
you can’t finish.

2. Villains, Creatures & NPC Villains. Treat them like a
proper character, with their own history, backgrounds,
flaws, perks, convictions and all the rest. They must have
goals and reasons for doing what they are doing, while
keeping it simple.

Joan is working on a Villain. She is using a Viking campaign
setting template and so selects a Frost Giant Chief as one
of her three bad guys. She then lists things about him.
Strong, Bossy, Mean, Tough, Fit, Swordsman. Killed many, bad
childhood, no family, no partner, trusts nobody.

Visualize to heighten areas (Caverns & Dungeons). Room
descriptions can be a really big problem. It’s a lot of work
to write up a 30 room level and by the 10th room it’s
downright painful. Change the way you do it. Imagine your
self as a hero walking into this room, look around, what do
you see… Creatures? Conditions? Color & Components?

3. Quest Preparation Feels Like Work. Putting together a
campaign is a lot of work. The idea is to cut the work down
into manageable chunks or blocks. Work out the nuts and
bolts for the first quest, make some brief notes for ideas
for any connectors along with possible creatures and setting
briefs and leave it alone till you get up to that stage.
Things change over the course of one or two games and you
might have to change things.

Never work on your quests for more the 2 hours at a time,
keep it fresh by doing it in small, punchy, half hour bites.

Work with lists, small paragraphs and flow charts rather
then huge masses of hand written or typed material. Keep
areas like caverns & dungeons to a room limit of say 15
rooms and only 2 levels. Try and invent at least 3 creatures
per quest. And never be afraid to scrap possible ideas for
some thing new that may prove better…

For example:

Joan is now running her first quest, “The Dogs of Death”.
The story hook is very simple, The players must solve the
murders in the city area in order to claim the 140gp reward.
A rival party is also attempting to solve this mystery and
claim the prize. The party needs this 140gp in order to
repay a loan from a Loan Shark.

The party soon collects enough facts & clues discovering a
secret gang of mercenaries working in the bell tower who are
using trained hunting dogs to attack unsuspecting victims
and rob them. Rather then infiltrating their lair in the
bell tower, the party in a complete turn-around instead
informs the Home Guard and sneaks into the Loan Shark’s
hide-out.

Joan, now in a complete panic, decides to cut for a break
while she works out a new tack. Working on the fly, 10
minutes of think-tanking comes up with the following
connectors. The Home Guards are corrupt and work for a rival
thieves’ guild, the Bloody Cutlass. The Loan Shark works for
the thieves’ guild, Blue Griffins. The third party here is
a band of goblin night assassins. This quest & campaign
turned out to be one of Joan’s best.

4. Player Expectations. Make sure players start off with the
character profession they want. Make sure their characters
are fully fleshed out giving you lots to work with. Make
sure you know what they want in the game, Action, Mystery,
Romance, etc.

Even if the party is all fighters and thieves, work with
that. Never have a player use another player’s character,
that always leads to tears and infighting. Don’t try and
save them from themselves, if they do some thing stupid let
them wear it, you don’t however have to kill them–just
punish them. Yes we should be aware that players are
expecting us to keep delivering… But as the
Narrator/Storyteller/DM you should know this and revel in it
by setting up you players with story baits and hooks, the
ones they in turn asked for at the start of the quest.

5. Player Envy. Avoid player envy (i.e. wishing you were the
one playing) by playing in a completely separate game group.
It’s good advice to never just constantly run games. Even
playing a computer game can do the trick.

6. Frustration & Restless Bored Players. GMs have told me
countless horror stories where players almost drove them
insane with constant nagging about their character, nagging
about the lack of magic items and how such-and-such new RPG
is loads better.

Stick to a generic campaign setting (boringly plain) then
select areas to enhance, with simple themes & ideas, to
flesh out later. For the Northern Hinterlands have a Viking
theme, while the Midlands have a Forgotten Realms theme.
Players can move to and from areas as they please. Always
keep things local and work outwards as the players work
outwards. Keep mostly to ideas with stuff inside the
players’ main circle of interest.

Make sure players are aware that they are in fact in control
of their characters’ lives. They can multi-class their
profession, they can go and choose their own skills and
talents, and they can go and train in whatever they want.
Put the ball back into your players’ hands, let “THEM” do all
the work. This also stops them from getting fed-up.

Always KEEP PLAYERS BUSY with stuff. Looking for clues in
a long lost journal (a hand-out you gave). Putting together
bits of a torn map (a torn hand-out you gave them), a
newspaper you email them monthly, looking for a lost family
relic in between normal adventuring.

In one of the campaigns I was running I had a player who was
starting to show loss of interest with her character, a 6th
level female half-elf Magic User. Always go straight to the
player & identify the problem with them. She was feeling
left out when the others in the party got stuck into combat.
Work with the player for a solution….I found the player to
be a closet Kung-fu nut. I gave the party a side mission
that led her character to multi-class into a Magic
User/Monk-Twin Dragon.

@@@@@@

From: Scott Fitz
MoonHunter

1. GM’s block is a serious problem in the roleplaying world.

Nothing stops a campaign faster than a burned out GM, except
maybe unhappy players. Signs of burn-out are a) lack of
enthusiasm for your own play, b) throwing the same old plots
at your players time and time again, c) seeing your
scenarios fall flat on a regular basis, d) not finding a new
hook or things to do in your campaign, e) players expressing
dissatisfaction about the game which they never have before.

2. Most people have a time of day when they’re the most
creative. Do your brainstorming then. Try going without
sleep for a while. Two o’clock in the morning is usually the
time when the brain is least reasonable. You can come up
with great ideas (or simply crazy ones) that can be added
together with other random thoughts. Always leave a notebook
and pencil by your bedside. You might wake up with a new
approach that can get you started again.

3. Read! I’ve been burned out before, and reading new things
always reawakens my imagination. I read fantasy books to
stimulate my creativity, but any genre will work. They do
not have to game related fiction. In fact, books of a type
you never normally read are best for inspiring you.

4. You can get ideas from movies. Watch movies with
different themes. A western can give you ideas completely
different from ideas inspired by a martial arts movie. Get
ideas from dramas, mysteries, suspense, horror, whatever.
Reading and watching movies may have some feature that might
provide the spark of inspiration from which a campaign might
be born.

5. Use your eyes. Artwork, both fine and graphic, are great
sources of inspiration. You can get ideas from a painting of
the countryside, a castle, or maybe just a portrait. Flip
through your books and see what kind of artwork is in them.
I recommend the annual Spectrum book series as the best
inspiration art book of all time.

6. If it does not work one way, try another. Consider
switching to another campaign setting or system. A new
setting may be a refreshing break from the standard things
your players are used to. If you play Fantasy all the time,
use a different section of your brain and try a science
fiction game. Sometimes you really need a break from the
usual. A change is definitely required if you’re out of
ideas on a topic.

7. Sometimes you need some help to get over the rough spots
in your creative drought. Don’t be afraid to read and borrow
stuff from others. Take ideas and add them together.
Roleplaying magazines always have little things that help a
GM, and they can be scoured for ideas you could use.

8. Review your previous work. It might help to go looking
through some of your old material. Look back at other things
you have written, and try revising them to fit your current
campaign. Update and modify it to fit your current tastes.
Also, the players may react differently to a situation than
another group of players. If they do, this will get you
thinking on a different line.

9. Try developing different parts of a campaign that you
haven’t already. See what the players could explore, be it
physical, emotional or spiritual. Try a moral dilemma
instead of your normal court intrigue or combat. Take the
group to a new part of your world as yet unexplored. An
invasion from space will always take a game in new
directions.

10. Ask a friend who is not involved in your current
campaign read over your work. Talk about it and see what
ideas he or she has that can be integrated. There is no such
thing as bad constructive criticism. If the friend doesn’t
like something about it, change it or make it better. Listen
to their comments and suggestions no matter how negative
they are regarding your work. After all, you don’t have a
better idea at this time.

11. If you can, try writing a little short story or stories.
Make your brain work in a different way. Put something down,
anything. Make it small. Start in the middle or write just a
piece of it. Make an outline. Think creatively about
something unrelated. Spend time just sitting quietly day
dreaming. Take a break. Give up for awhile and do something
different. Most likely you are burned out because you are
overworked. Enjoy some down time to rest your brain. Curl up
with a good book and let yourself drift to a different
place.

12. Try writing small pieces of information or creative
thought. These could be one line of scene description,
three sentences describing the organization of a religion,
the fast write up for an NPC, some game mechanics that when
a piece of description added could be a new monster, or even
a game tip. Once you can begin to write things down, they
can inspire you to move on to other things.

13. Sometimes there are physical reasons for why you are not
feeling creative. Try to make sure you are getting enough
quality sleep, taking in a little exercise, and limiting the
amount of chemical modifiers you are taking (caffeine and
nicotine being the biggest contributors). If you have any
physical ailments, try to get them resolved. You can’t do
your best when you don’t feel your best.

14. The hardest part of being creative is “the starting”.
Try taking pieces of the middle of what you want to do, then
go back and work on the beginning.

15. Sometimes you just need a change of pace. Trying going
someplace new, or just different, from where you normally
go. The change of location may help you to dislodge the GM’s
block.

@@@@@@

From: Jerry M.

Hello Johnn,

I’ve been running a home-brewed game for the past 6 years
with another friend, and GM burn-out creeps up on me very
often (usually once or twice a month). I have a suggestion
for other GM/DM’s to help overcome burn-out and make their
game and/or game world seem “better”.

I find that relaxing while listening to music and letting my
mind wander in my game world helps. While relaxing, try to
picture yourself walking around in your game world and paying
attention to what people do, their surroundings, and just
generally what goes on. Once you’re walking around in your
game world, close your eyes and let your mind wander
(preferably in your game world)… Do this for a couple
hours a week (sometimes 30 min a day for a week really gets
me wanting to GM).

You can take this to the next step further by making stuff
happen. Example. While walking to the store, you see someone
hit by a car. What do you do? What if that person is your
enemy, friend, spouse, noble/high class, commoner, etc.?
Sometimes seeing the day to day life of your game world
through the eyes of a commoner, or just some traveler, you
will begin to know more about your game world that usually
isn’t in any books. Your game world has a life, why not look
at how it is for a couple hours a week. Plus, don’t think of
plot hooks, let them come to you. The more you “see” your
world, the more you can probably figure out how to make a
campaign unlike any you had before…

This may be difficult if you do not have a fully developed
game world, or have little knowledge about the system. This
has been very effective for me because I built my whole game
world, system, and NPCs from scratch, so I know of many
aspects of day to day life in my world from planet to
planet, realm to realm.

These tips have helped me, and maybe they can help someone
else.

@@@@@@

From: Mitch Michaelson

Hi Johnn,

Your recent issue struck very close to home: I suffered GM
burn-out and I had to have a character leave the game.

First, because we play online, that means we don’t know each
other as people very well. And no matter how many smiley-
faces you use, it’s very easy to offend someone in a chat
room. The group lacked cohesiveness. I lost interest in
holding it all together. So I asked that we skip a week,
then come back and discuss the problems.

The remaining players and I talked our issues out. In some
cases, I was at fault as much as anyone. In other cases, I
had to play the “it’s my game” card while demonstrating
concern for their feelings.

One of the players pointed out a flaw in the way I set up
the game. As mid-level characters (ancillae), I wanted them
developing their own schemes and domains… but because
there were few low-level characters (neonates) in the city,
the player characters were effectively just powerful
neonates.

I didn’t think bringing in dozens of neonates would make
things better so the players suggested they take control of
my non-player characters! They each chose an existing NPC
neonate and will play them from now on, in addition to their
normal ancillae. This troupe-style play expanded the ranks
of player characters and since the two groups know each
other, the ancillae can send the neonates off on dirty
missions they devise. This completely dispelled my lack of
interest and my burn-out was gone!

Second, at the same time as all of this I had to expel a
character from the game because he simply didn’t fit in. The
player was also rarely present, so that contributed. One of
the players contacted the expelled player and asked if he
still wanted to play, which he did. The player brokered a
discussion between the ex-player and I, and now the ex-
player is creating a new character that fits the game and he
will show up more often.

The game is back on. The lost player is coming back into the
game. The moral to the story is, involve your players when
you suffer burnout. They will probably surprise you with
something out of the blue.

by Heather Grove

When you create your own campaign there’s so much you could spend your time on. Should you write up non-player characters (NPCs) with rich backgrounds? What about scenes you expect will take place in game, and speeches spoken by NPCs? Should you detail the background of a plot, or the things you think should happen next? What about designing puzzles and contests, or even maps? Are you better off creating rough notes or intricate details?

There are two rough axes involved here. One is level of detail, and the other is type of material. Let us start with type of material, because level of detail tends to be wrapped up in the type of material you write.

Non-Player Characters

NPCs are the backbone of many good adventures. If you’re big into role-playing rather than hack-and-slash, NPCs are probably the most important part of your preparation. Even if you prefer the hack-and-slash they can provide many a quest or adventure idea. As long as you have a well-detailed character you can adapt him to any situation. If you know your character’s motivations, he can be a part of long conversations that require little preparation at all.

When creating NPCs who are meant to be more than combat-antagonists, the following are useful details to think about. Whether you write a sentence on each or entire paragraphs, you’ll find your effort more than repaid in plot ideas and conversational material during game.

Start with the character’s family. Who are his parents, his brothers and sisters, his spouse, his children? Too many characters in roleplaying games seem to spring fully formed from the head of the game master (GM), with no family and no childhood. The more layers your NPCs have, the more interesting they will seem to your players.

The character’s history. How did he get to where he is today? The more you know about his motivations and ambitions, the events that shaped his life, the easier it will be to figure out what he should do in the context of your game.

The character’s abilities. What is he good at? What is he bad at? How, where, and from whom did he learn such things?

Mundane details of the character’s life. What job does he have? Where does he live? You don’t need lots of detail here; just a few things to work with. Characters seem much more “real” when they have these sorts of details. It also becomes easier for your players to attempt actions related to an NPC if you know where he’s likely to hang out and what he’ll be up to.

The character’s plans for the future. Almost everyone has at least some idea of where he’s heading and what he wants out of life. If he’s a scientist, what projects does he work on? If he’s a sorcerer, what magic’s does he seek? What research does he work on? What personal goals motivate him?

The character’s blind spots. Everyone has them, and few GMs think to detail them. Does your NPC trust a certain type of person implicitly? Does he believe himself invincible, even though he isn’t? This may provide the foundation for how your players can blackmail or defeat an NPC.

The character’s personality. How does he act? How will he react when treated in different ways? This is one way to make each of your characters stand out from the others.

What does the character look like? A person’s appearance can convey a great deal about him.

You might think all of your plot ideas will come from the “plans for the future” and “history” sections, but you’d be surprised. The most amazing inspirations come from family, mundane details, personality, abilities, and even appearance.

Scenes and Speeches

Scenes and speeches can be useful at times, but they’re of limited value. For one thing, it’s very easy to obsolete them. If your players make a single choice or ask a single question that you don’t expect it can invalidate an entire scene or speech.

Under certain circumstances they’re useful. For example, if you know that a certain character will have a certain dream, and that he will observe it passively, then it’s probably safe to write it up. If the characters will hear a public speech that they have no reason to interfere with, then there’s a decent chance it will go off as planned.

Instead, you might be better off loosely sketching out scenes and speeches. It takes much less time to outline a scene briefly than to write out every detail. Make a note or two about the physical details of the scene to give you a place to start from when describing things. Note who is likely to be in attendance, and what their attitudes and likely actions will be. Write a sentence about what purpose the scene is meant to serve, so that if it goes wrong you can try to save the purpose if not the details. Then you might note the expected beginning point, the expected end point, and any major events that should take place. If you think of things that might not go the way you want, make a note or two about how you’d handle them.

In the case of a speech, you might loosely outline the points to be covered, and write down any choice turns of phrase that occur to you. Know everything you can about the speaker – his motivations, what he’s trying to achieve with his speech, and his attitude toward the player characters (PCs). That way you can adapt the speech to any events that you didn’t expect. And if the players’ actions have eliminated the scene or speech you had planned, you won’t lose nearly as much prep work.

Writing out a list of possible scenes with a few helpful details for each can give you an entire evening’s worth of material that you can adapt to player action as necessary. It also means that you won’t feel pressured to make sure that your scenes run as planned. If you believe that your scenes must happen in a certain way, then you may railroad the players into playing the game your way – and this tends to frustrate players.

Plot Background

The background of a plot consists of a number of details. Take, for example, a seemingly simple quest in which the PCs must retrieve a holy relic from a derelict church. Who has asked them to perform this quest? What is it that she wants the relic for – or what does she really want, if not the relic? Who is she and what is she up to? Who will the PCs encounter along the way, and will they seek to help or hinder the PCs? Why? Where do the PCs need to go? What do they need to do? How may they fail or succeed?

A line or two on each may be all that you need. Or you may deeply detail each person and possibility. You may also want to make notes based on this background as to what might happen during game (see the notes on “Scenes and Speeches,” above). The longer you expect a plot to take, and the more intricate it will be the more prep work you’ll want to do. Also, if you expect the NPCs from the plot to stick around in-game afterward, then it pays to detail them up front (this keeps them consistent).

As long as you have this background, then you have material to work with. Whether you extrapolate from it before game starts or as you go along, you know where you’re coming from.

Puzzles and Contests

Puzzles and contests come in all sizes, complexities, and flavors. Whether you’ve planned a simple trial by combat or a complex puzzle with clues hidden throughout an entire civilization, you’ll need to plan ahead. Small, simple puzzles are usually pretty straightforward. Intricate ones may consist of entire webs of clues and payoffs.

You may expect me to say that keeping track of your clues, where the PCs can pick them up, and what they lead to is the reason to plan these things out ahead of time. In fact, there’s another reason entirely. You can’t ever be certain in advance which clues will work out, which ones will make no sense to your players, and which will be sidestepped altogether. After all, no GM can anticipate everything her players will think and do. You’ll want to be able to fix things on the go. If you plan ahead of time, you can double-stack each clue or piece of information, hiding it in two places, providing two means to get to it, or at least giving yourself a back-up plan in case anything goes strange.

Maps and Props

If you have to give players props like maps, make them as enigmatic as possible. The more details you put in writing, the less you can change in order to keep up with your players. Also, keep in mind that a map of places the PCs haven’t gone yet doesn’t have to be entirely accurate -so even if you do mark everything up, that shouldn’t stop you from changing things.

If your players are the sorts of folk who will really enjoy the feel of an authentic-looking scroll with real hieroglyphics on it, then you may wish to spend the time to create one. If they’ll look at it once and then never pull it out again, you’re probably better off making a five-minute knock-off.

When considering how much effort to put in on something, always think about what the payoff will be. It can be frustrating to spend an hour lovingly crafting a prop, only to have it ignored. Similarly, it can be embarrassing to put five minutes in on it, only to have the players minutely study every detail.

Flexibility

When it comes down to it, the preparation of material should be all about flexibility. You can never predict everything your players will do, so you need to be ready for the unexpected. The more flexible the material you’ve prepared the more ready you’ll be. Background material is infinitely changeable, and provides a great deal of inspiration for in-game events while retaining its flexibility; thus, you can detail it to your heart’s content. You are limited only by your free time. In-game material is easily rendered obsolete, and thus you’re usually better off roughly sketching such material and leaving yourself as much wiggle-room as possible. You’ll need your rough notes in order to keep track of where things should be going, but the more detailed they are, the less flexible they become.

Flexibility benefits both you and your players. For you, it means you’re less likely to throw out hours of work. For your players, it means that you’re less likely to feel it necessary to railroad them into your preferred course of play. Everyone wins.

Now I’m going to tell you a secret. If you’re a GM without a lot of experience, the idea of improvising from rough notes probably makes you nervous. You think the players will notice that you seem unprepared. Believe it or not, GMs tend to come across as more unprepared when they detail everything that’s supposed to happen in-game.

Why? Because more often than not they get caught with their pants down when the PCs do something unexpected, and then they have no idea what to do. GMs who improvise tend to feel as though they’re disorganized, and that it must show horribly. But the players rarely notice.

I’ve heard lots of players comment on how well-detailed and gorgeous any given campaign or chronicle was, only to see the GM’s eyes widen. He then makes some comment about how he was really doing everything by the seat of his pants, and felt terribly disorganized.

Yet this comes across as more prepared to the players rather than less, because the GM makes things suit the PCs’ actions. It’s the GM who sits there staring at his intricate scene details and then tries to find a way to shoehorn the PCs into them who comes across as unprepared.

by Chris Buono

Chris polled members of the GMMastery Yahoo group for benign urban encounter ideas and then added a few of his own to come up with this awesome list you might find useful for your own campaigns. Editor Isaac and I added a few more as well. Thanks Chris, Telas, and GMMastery contributors!

Try using this list a few different ways:

1. To help with impromptu descriptions.
2. An injection of scenery when designing city encounters and locations.
3. Encounter hooks. These items are perfect micro-situations on which to layer a larger conflict, clue, or circumstance. For example, pick an item from the list and use it as a distraction while the real encounter triggers. Your players will enjoy the one-two punch.
4. Inspiration. If you’ve got writer’s block, these items are perfect for getting the ideas flowing.

The List of Benign Urban Encounters

1. Chamber pot emptied near/on
2. Cats chasing each other dart past
3. “Please watch this cart for me, just for a minute.”
4. Birds of prey circling overhead
5. Urchin approaches for minor scam
6. Shadow passes across the ground
7. Smoke rises in distance (brush fire)
8. Feeling of deja vu
9. Insect swarm/nest on building
10. Howling/barking in the distance
11. Beggar asks for alms
12. Children pester party
13. Local teen wants to join party
14. Graffiti on building
15. Stumble onto amorous teens
16. Child looking for pet frog
17. Snake slithers away
18. Street vendor (food, drink, trinkets, etc.)
19. Rainbow in the distance
20. Group of bats rise in the distance
21. Drunken fist fight
22. Stumble on lover’s quarrel
23. Religious pilgrims with vow of silence are jeered at
24. “Recognized” by a drunk
25. Overturned vegetable cart
26. Criminal held in public stock
27. Sudden sun shower
28. Wind kicks up
29. Street performer(s)
30. Religious fanatic
31. A discarded, tattered cloak
32. A rusty old weapon found in gutter
33. Dark storm cloud approaches
34. Large beetle buzzes around head
35. Kids playing game (hide ‘n seek)
36. Criminal in custody is marched past
37. Mother looking for child
38. Sandstorm
39. Small dust whirlwind
40. A dead ox causes a gridlock
41. An overturned cart causes a gridlock
42. A few sun bleached papers blow by
43. Well-armed adventurers pass by
44. Roof tile falls, barely missing party
45. Approached by prostitute(s)
46. Smell of baking/cooking
47. Pimp (“you messin’ with my woman?”)
48. Wailing baby
49. One person chasing another
50. Stench of feces
51. Ray of light seems to surround one person
52. Unusually cool breeze
53. Rats are following you
54. You get a dull, throbbing headache
55. Injured bird lies helpless
56. Skunk smell
57. Eerily quiet
58. Customer angry with shopkeeper
59. Food fight occurring
60. Stung by a bee
61. Arid dust coats your mouth
62. Cop/guard walking a beat
63. Spoiled brat wants party item
64. Someone teleports away
65. Very friendly cat
66. Parent scolding child
67. Someone bumps pouch–nothing’s missing
68. Find a copper piece
69. Parade in honor of minor saint, hero, etc.
70. Foreigners arguing in their own language
71. Allergic reaction to exotic spice/pollen
72. Discount holy water salesman
73. Witness a minor crime
74. Something scurries away (chipmunk)
75. Street preacher accosts you
76. Witness a major crime
77. Two religious processions meet head-on
78. City watch follows you for 2d4 blocks
79. Find a silver piece
80. Dogs chasing each other run by
81. Very active beehive nearby
82. Howling gust of wind
83. Approaching lightning storm
84. Crow squawks repeatedly at approach
85. Rubbery mass stuck to your boot (gum)
86. Step in crap – dog, dire rat, etc.
87. Someone stomps in nearby puddle–splash!
88. Street cleaner sweeps by
89. Unconscious stranger on side of road
90. Pair of small birds harass you
91. Feral cat is trailing the party
92. A case of mistaken identity
93. Cloud shaped as holy symbol
94. Shopping list for potions is found
95. Old ring is sticking out of the dirt
96. One person has an intense itch
97. Hawk takes mole/mouse near party
98. Find a gold piece
99. Loose chickens peck at the street
100. Passing child drops pottery, cries
101. Raven lands in path, stares, leaves
102. Injured mounted scout charges through the street
103. Noble is carried past in a sedan chair
104. Two hooded people whisper on street
105. Young consumer is watched closely
106. Singing floats out of nearby building
107. Circus wagon trundles past, animal calls
108. Weapon sharpener approaches party
109. Large flock of birds flies acrobatics, then darts away
110. Private guards flank a door
111. Distracted senior totters straight for party
112. Weary knight is mobbed by adoring children
113. Partial eclipse of the sun
114. Emaciated children tug at party sleeves
115. People cheer for the party
116. A strong, young, healthy beggar asks for coin
117. A politician on a box of soap during a speech makes eye contact with a PC
118. A cat is stuck in a tree and mewls at the PCs
119. An escaped pet rodent rolling around the street in its ball bumps up against a PC’s leg
120. A religious leader and his incense burning retinue cuts across the PCs’ path
121. A diseased old man resting in a chair asks for help standing up
122. A paint can spills from above and splashes PCs
123. Political activists on parade beckon the PCs to join
124. A dangerous fish in a tank bumps loudly against the glass
125. A bee stings a nearby child who blindly runs to a PC for soothing
126. A small bird egg drops out of a nest from above and land intact nearby
127. An elf walks by with living snakes wrapped around his shoulders
128. A visitor stops to ask for directions to an interesting place
129. A fish vendor bends over to vomit and people point and laugh
130. A sheet of music blows into a PC’s face
131. A garbage bin rattles; inside is a tied sack of kittens
132. A depressed bard asks sing-song, rhetorical questions of the PCs
133. A dangerous-looking racoon has claimed an apple cart as his–merchant beseeches PCs
134. A known crime boss sits and reads while sweating shoe shine boy buffs and casts the PCs worried looks
135. A woman with too much fashion going on breaks her shoe and stumbles into a PC
136. A man gets down on one knee and proposes, drawing a crowd and knotting traffic
137. A beggar with his hand down a drain hole brings up a ring and immediately asks the PCs to buy it
138. Three performers in masks surround the PCs and do a ring dance around them
139. Clothing tossed out a window during a lovers’ spat lands on a PC
140. A woman drops a basket of fruit–can the PCs dodge before squashing some?
141. A crazy man points at PC’s equipment and lists its magical properties–and he’s right!
142. A little boy confronts the PCs and shoots them with an imaginary crossbow
143. PCs pass an alleyway blocked by a new spider web
144. A fishmonger dumps a cart of rotten fish for scavengers to clean up
145. A young noble passes trailed by a pickpocket
146. A messenger collides with the PCs and numerous papers start blowing around
147. A body of an evil wizard tied to a stake, body still smoking
148. A chatty bard walks alongside the party
149. A chess match
150. A person passed out from too much drink, looted, with writing on forehead

By Gareth Hodges

The Aaargh factor

Technically, a bureaucracy is designed to help a government or large group deliver services in a timely, efficient and effective manner. Traditionally however, they are viewed as mockeries that frustrate, delay and ultimately fail to produce results. The first step in creating a bureaucratic system for your gaming world is what I term the “Aaargh!” factor…if you’ve ever stood in line at lunchtime in a government office, you’ll know what I mean. In game terms, how well do you want the system to actually do what it is “designed” to do?

In a roleplaying game, especially futuristic ones, it is possible to create a system with little or no Aaargh. Instantaneous communication, automated systems and well trained, well placed and friendly staff or efficient AIs could mean that your waiting time is negligible. This doesn’t lead to very much opportunity unless it goes wrong, in which case it can rocket up the Aaargh scale and lead to all sorts of fun.

Moderate Aaargh is probably what people encounter in their daily lives in developed nations. Not every person is appropriate for their job, not all the rules make sense to the people enforcing them, there is either too much or too little redundancy in the system, blurry lines of responsibility, low accountability for individuals, and a less than adequate consumer focus. Somehow, things still get done, they may not be perfect, but it’s still a step forward.

High Aaargh can be bewildering, complex and downright infuriating. Perhaps you have to bribe your way through each level of authority to get things done…the concept of “baksheesh” (or socially accepted palm-greasing) is still in force in Turkey today. People who work in the system might look out for themselves, do the least work possible, and not care about results. The legislation they work with could be highly misinterpret able, contradictory or out-of-date (such as inIndia, which had the most complex and bewildering legal system ever known). Things can happen without people knowing why; blunders can change or even end lives and none of makes any sense to anyone…

This can be a lot of fun to role-play through; if your PCs are prepared for a lot of frustration…they didn’t have a Dragon Slaying License? “Section 354 (f) of the Greater Reptile, Snake and Associated Large Scale Cold-Blooded Organisms Act of 1376 clearly states…”

Headless, Hydraic or Cyclopic Bureaucracies

This way of looking at an organizational structure can give you lots of ideas for campaign background and story hooks.

The Headless bureaucracy

The Headless bureaucracy goes nicely with high Aaargh…no-one knows who is ultimately in charge because the lines of communication are so tangled. Orders come in and are followed just because that’s what happens, and the results are no-ones fault because there is nowhere to point the finger. A version of this is the Decapitated bureaucracy…a formerly ordered system which has failed for some reason, and now procedures are followed out of habit.

The Hydraic bureaucracy

The Hydraic bureaucracy is what most of us are familiar with…there are a lot of heads waving around, responsible for different things. They can get tangled, but there are several defined points of authority that are ultimately responsible. They can do a lot of different things at once, and if they all pull together they are a force to be reckoned with…more often they’ll be pulling in opposite directions, which creates the tension you can use in games.

Perhaps one group of the system is doing something that overlaps/impinges on/contradicts another’s area of responsibility and the PCs are sent in to find out what is going on…be prepared for a lot of hard-talking! Typical example is in the jurisdictional disputes we see in law enforcement. To use the American example, having “The Feds” called in to take over an investigation can lead to a lot of story hooks.

The Cyclopic Bureaucracy

The Cyclopic bureaucracy is one that has a single vision, a single purpose, and is going to get there, regardless… Dictatorships, or other bodies with a single individual or group at the helm can come under this category, if the whole bureaucracy is geared toward a specific outcome…i.e. placing an economy on a war footing changes every level of governance relating to the economy.

In a highly religious system, the whole flavor of it, and all the laws, guidelines and codes can be oriented toward furthering or promoting the religion. For a good modern example, just read a bit about the Taliban inAfghanistan.

Bureaucracies can also be Chameleons…they may look Headless, Hydraic or Cyclopic, but are they really? Only those behind the scenes can tell you.

“How can I help you?” or “How do the PCs interact with the bureaucracy?

The most important aspect to consider is the interaction with the game. You don’t need to detail all the areas of a monolithic bureaucracy if the party will rarely encounter it. Are there offices in every major population centre for people to make inquiries, get relevant documents and complain? Are their traveling “auditors”, inspectors or enforcers of the rules of the bureaucracy? Is the blacksmiths shop your PC just opened going to get a visit from the local Smithing Guild inspectors, or do they just apply for a permit? What standards are expected when dealing with the bureaucracy and what would they ignore? How far can you step over the line before you are warned, closed down or charged?

When a PC needs something official attended to, how long will it take? How many hands does it pass through to get where it needs to, and how many of those people actually know what they’re doing? Do the PCs just walk into an office and speak to an attendant at a counter, or do they need to petition to see a hard-to-reach official?

Rather than the old bar brawl, maybe the group meets in a stifling waiting room at the local government offices, or a long line of weary applicants for a certain permit.

Also remember that PC’s may not be able to circumvent certain levels of bureaucracy…how difficult would it be for you or me to get to see the President of theUSA, the Queen of England or the Pope? Besides, the real power may not rest with the obvious head anyway.

All of these issues, of course, require people to interact with. A single chain of command in an organization can provide a huge variety of NPC’s for the group to deal with, and they don’t have to be cardboard clones. If you work in an office, you have a whole range of personalities that you already know well just waiting to be used!

Red Tape

Why not present the PCs with a form or three to be filled out…applications for gun licenses, hunting licenses, border passes and passports, car registration, certification as a professional in their field, birth, marriage and death certificates, and so on…if you have the right form you can make the most mundane thing an exploration of bureaucracy…and if your PCs haven’t filled in the right forms, then they could be in a lot of trouble…see what happens when you are caught with an unregistered semi-automatic in Australia.

Then there are the positives; letters of Marque, Citations, Awards of Achievement and the range of other accolades officials can shower on you. Have the PCs done some civic-minded things? Have the Mayor hold a celebration in their honor. Bureaucrats and politicians are notorious for their interest in public ceremony. And what can you do with the keys to the city?

In essence, if it needs a signature, stamp or seal, it can be a plot hook. What happens when the local Merchant Guild master has his official seal stolen?? How grateful would he be to get it back? And what kind of mess can that seal cause in the wrong hands?

Making the World Go Round

Ultimately, your bureaucracy will at least be paying lip service to achieving something. The more people are involved in creating a bureaucracy, the more you have the opportunity for plot ideas as the system tries or fail to deliver. Anything from an overworked, overstressed official hiring the group to ensure his confidential documents reach the head office, to carrying out some bizarre and cryptic order handed down from on high, to traveling around troubleshooting various problems within the organization, to hostage negotiation when a maddened worker goes “postal”. From the outside, a bureaucracy can make your PCs lives hell, or grease their way to easy street, if they learn how to deal with it.

We all interact with bureaucracy at some point in our lives…look around you, make a few adjustments, and you have the basis for a fun, challenging and different game.

by Lord Skudley

Drama Doubloons {DD} will be awarded to any Character who commits a selfless act or brave deed that can only be called Heroic. Likewise Drama Doubloons can be offered to an evil aligned character that performs a particularly vile act. They can be used at the player’s discretion to perform amazing, often otherwise impossible acts, or to advance their character’s profile. The GM will receive one Drama Doubloon per PC as well as one Drama Doubloon for each Drama Doubloon spent by the PCs. A player may not hold more than 20 Drama Doubloons; The GM may not hold more than 40.

On their turn, before the success or failure of an action, a player can announce they are spending a DD to help accomplish the action. This may involve adding 1d4 per DD, to their roll. This cannot be stacked with the Panache Feat nor added to damage.

If used with an attack roll, and the attack roll would have succeeded without the DD, the attack is upgraded to an automatic Critical.

One DD may be spent after a roll to add 1d4 per DD to the roll. This cannot be stacked with the Panache Feat nor added to damage.

One DD may be spent to re-roll any failed roll. The second roll may not be re-rolled.

One DD may be spent to “Take 10″ on any roll that normally does not allow for a “Take 10″.

One DD may be spent to “Take 20″ on a roll that normally allows a “Take 10″

A player or GM may spend a DD to purchase a called shot.

One DD may be spent to activate a Hubris/Flaw or a Virtue/Wile.

If used when a character is being attacked; one DD can be spent to add a +1d20 “Luck Bonus” to the Armor Class or a Saving Throw. If used with a saving throw for half damage or partial effect, and the save would have succeeded without the DD, then he takes no damage or ill effects at all.

One DD may be spent to make something work in a way the rules normally do not allow {i.e. popping open a lock in the middle of combat by banging on it just right, firing an arrow, or throwing one’s sword to cut the bonds of a bound ally in the middle of a fight, or not only disarming a foe, but sending the weapon sailing into the hand of a nearby ally}. Actions allowed at the GM’s discretion.

Rollin’ the Bonez: If an action or die roll determines the character will fall below con points or die, a DD may be used to Roll the Bonez. The GM determines the outcome from the Bonez Chart (ranging from a Disfiguring Scar to a Gruesome & Horrible Death) the character takes no wounds, but passes out and is assumed dead by any attacking party.

If an action or die roll determines the character will die, two DDs may be used to purchase a “Kat’s Life”. A “Kat’s Life” negates the death of the character and reduces the current wounds / damage by half {round up}. A “Kat’s Life” may only be used Nine times. Each “Kat’s Life” purchased after the first costs one additional DD. Cannot be used against a Coop De Grace.

Two DDs may be spent to purchase one Skill Point. Up to the maximum of four skill points at each Character’s level up.

DDs may be traded for one extra Feat at twice the character’s current level per feat; a character may buy a maximum of four feats. May only be used once per character level. A Skill may be purchased as a permanent Class Skill for the same expenditure.

Rollin’ the Bonez

The character passes out and is assumed dead by any attacking party. Other players must perform a spot check of DC 10 or a search check of DC 8 to notice that the character is still living. Do not disclose the affects until the battle is resolved. For all rolls involving the option of left or right roll again: odds right, evens left.

“The Bonez tell me nothing!” (no damage)

Impressive Facial Scar: Both suave and rakish. +2 to charisma.

BattleScars: Neither particularly suave nor ugly, this mesh of scars gives the impression that you have seen a lot of fights. +1 to reputation.
Severe Scar: Nasty and memorable. – 2 to diplomacy, +1 to reputation & intimidate.

“The Bonez tell me nothing! ” (No damage)

Disfiguring Scar: Powder burns, deep wide cuts, flayed skin. -2 to commonality, +2 to reputation & intimidate.

Hideous Scar: Worse than merely disfiguring, these are Hideous; missing nose, ear, part of your face… -3 to commonality, +2 to reputation, Frightening Countenance.

Throat wound: You can no longer speak above a horse whisper. +2 to any skill where a disturbing voice could be useful. Then again you can no longer shout.

Loss of an eye: -4 to all spot checks. Hopefully this is your first, otherwise…

“The Bonez tell me nothing! ” (No damage)

Develops a limp: -5 to speed, -2 to climb, jump, tumble, & balance. However you now have an impressive swagger. +1 to charisma.

Loss of a leg: -10 to speed, -5 to climb, swim, jump, ride, tumble, balance, move silently & reflex save. +2 to reputation.

Loss of a finger: Roll a d10: 1&2 thumb, 3&4 index finger, 5&6 middle finger, 7&8 ring finger, 9&10 pinky. If more than 2 fingers lost -1 to craft, disable device, forgery, slight of hand and use rope.

Loss of your passive hand: -2 circumstance bonus to attacks with two handed weapons, climb, craft, disable device, escape artist and use rope.

“The Bonez tell me nothing!” (No damage)

Loss of your dominant hand: -4 circumstance bonus to attacks with two handed weapons, climb, craft, disable device, escape artist, forgery, open lock, slight of hand and use rope.

Serious wound: DC 15. If failed -2 to con, may be regained in 1d4 months.

Really Serious wound: DC 15. If failed -3 to con, may be regained in 2d4 months.

Especially Serious wound: DC 16. If failed -4 to con, may be regained in 2d4 months.

“The Bonez demand more!!! ” (Roll on the Brain Bonez or roll a d8)

Loss of your passive arm: -5 to climb, craft, disable device, escape artist and use rope.

Loss of your dominant arm: -10 to climb, craft, disable device, escape artist, forgery, open lock, slight of hand and use rope.

Weathered: You have seen too much of life at its harshest, too many storms at sea, too many battles that you have barley survived. -1 to dexterity, strength and -2 to constitution. You are not yet dead +2 to reputation!

Worn: Life has not been kind to you. Too many years of battle, disease and abuse have demanded their sacrifice. -2 to dexterity, strength and -4 to constitution. But, by god, you may still have a little more fight left. +4 to reputation.

Mortal wound: must be attended by a doctor, DC 19. If failed death.

Dramatic Death: Your death will long be remembered and be celebrated in story & song.

Gruesome and Horrible Demise: Your demise will be spoken of in dark whispers and remembered with a quiet shudder.

“The Bonez tell me nothing!” (No damage)

Brain Bonez

1-2. Strange Quirk: You have developed a personal “tick” such as an odd swagger to your walk, or a distinctive way of speaking. +1 to reputation

3-4. Compulsive Disorder: You acquire a mannerism you continually repeat. Such as persistently sharpening your cutlass or shouting “I am not a dog! ” +2 to intimidate, -2 to hide and move silently.

5-6. Mild Phobia: You develop a slight irrational fear of something. When confronted by the thing that you fear, make a Will Save, DC 15. Success means you gain a + 1 Circumstance Bonus to all attack rolls, failure means you become shaken until you leave the presence of whatever is causing your fear. See Phobia List for examples.

7-8. Depression: Your experiences have left you world weary and somewhat bereft of hope. You tend to see the gloomy side of every situation and aren’t particularly fun to be around. -2 Charisma.

9-10. Kleptomania: You can’t resist taking small objects that have no particular value. Whenever you can steal a small object, without being noticed, make a Will Save; DC 15. Failure means you attempt to pocket the item. Sleight of Hand is now a class skill for you, however, you must do your best to keep the condition a secret from every one around you and if you are ever caught, you’ll deny it till your dying breath.

11-12. Mild Delusions: You believe things that simply aren’t true or perceive things that aren’t there, such as you are invincible. Make a Will Save; DC 10 or your delusions start kicking in.

13-14. Phobia: You develop a strong irrational fear of something. When confronted by the thing or condition that you fear, make a Will Save, DC 15. Success means that you are merely shaken, while failure means that you are frightened until you leave the presence of whatever is causing your fear. See Phobia List for examples.

15-16. Paranoia: They’re out to get you, you’re sure of it. You aren’t quite certain who they are, so you’re always watching to catch them at it. You trust no one. Whenever any stimulus occurs that could set off your paranoia, make a Will Save; DC 15. Success means that you can act, normally, but you have to do your best to “keep an eye” on whatever it was that set you off. Failure means that you are shaken and you loudly, publicly accuse your “enemies” of their “deceptions.”

17-18. Megalomania: The time has at last come for you to embrace your great destiny. The weak willed fools that once held you back must either be killed or showed to a place at your feet where they can be your lackeys. Only you have the foresight and the will to govern. All others are merely pawns, to be used and discarded at your whims. You get a +2 bonus to Will Saves and a +2 bonus to Intelligence. You must make a Will Save; DC 20 in order to tolerate orders of any kind, from anybody.

19. Major Phobia: You develop a completely irrational fear of some horrible thing. Anyone that doesn’t share your fear is, potentially, a lunatic or inhumanly brave. You actively go out of your way to avoid any situation that you reasonably suspect may expose you to the source of your phobia. Whenever confronted by the thing you fear, make a Will Save; DC 15. Success means that you are only frightened, while failure means that you are panicked until you leave the presence of whatever is causing your fear. See Phobia List for examples.

20. Powerful Delusions: You believe things that are blatantly untrue and perceive many things that aren’t there. Your delusions are eternally present, in one form or another. You have to make a Will Save with a DC 25 to even catch a glimpse of the “real” world or remain lucid for a brief time. Failure means you’re lost in your delusions and unreachable outside of their context for a few hours. Example: You’re an ancient dragon and you cannot understand why your “fiery breath” wasn’t more effective in stopping those horde robbers.

Rollin’ the Bonez: If an action or die roll determines the character will fall below 1/2 con points or die, a DD may be used to Roll the Bonez. The GM determines the outcome from the Bonez Chart (ranging from a Disfiguring Scar to a Gruesome and Horrible Death) the character takes no wounds, but passes out and is assumed dead by any attacking party.

If an action or die roll determines the character will die, two DDs may be used to purchase a “Kat’s Life”. A “Kat’s Life” negates the death of the character and reduces the current wounds / damage by half {round up}. A “Kat’s Life” may only be used Nine times. Each “Kat’s Life” purchased after the first costs one additional DD. Cannot be used against a Coop De Grace.

Two DDs may be spent to purchase one Skill Point. Up to the maximum of four skill points at each Character’s level up.

DDs may be traded for one extra Feat at twice the character’s current level per feat; a character may buy a maximum of four feats. May only be used once per character level. A Skill may be purchased as a permanent Class Skill for the same expenditure.

Rollin’ the Bonez

The character passes out and is assumed dead by any attacking party. Other players must perform a spot check of DC 10 or a search check of DC 8 to notice that the character is still living. Do not disclose the affects until the battle is resolved. For all rolls involving the option of left or right roll again: odds right, evens left.

“The Bonez tell me nothing!” (no damage)

Impressive Facial Scar: Both suave and rakish. +2 to charisma.

Battle Scars: Neither particularly suave nor ugly, this mesh of scars gives the impression that you have seen a lot of fights. +1 to reputation.
Severe Scar: Nasty and memorable. – 2 to diplomacy, +1 to reputation & intimidate.

“The Bonez tell me nothing! ” (no damage)

Disfiguring Scar: Powder burns, deep wide cuts, flayed skin. -2 to commonality, +2 to reputation & intimidate.

Hideous Scar: Worse than merely disfiguring, these are Hideous; missing nose, ear, part of your face… -3 to commonality, +2 to reputation, Frightening Countenance.

Throat wound: You can no longer speak above a horse whisper. +2 to any skill where a disturbing voice could be useful. Then again you can no longer shout.

Loss of an eye: -4 to all spot checks. Hopefully this is your first, otherwise…

“The Bonez tell me nothing! ” (no damage)

Develops a limp: -5 to speed, -2 to climb, jump, tumble, & balance. However you now have an impressive swagger. +1 to charisma.

Loss of a leg: -10 to speed, -5 to climb, swim, jump, ride, tumble, balance, move silently & reflex save. +2 to reputation.

Loss of a finger: Roll a d10: 1&2 thumb, 3&4 index finger, 5&6 middle finger, 7&8 ring finger, 9&10 pinky. If more than 2 fingers lost -1 to craft, disable device, forgery, slight of hand and use rope.

Loss of your passive hand: -2 circumstance bonus to attacks with two handed weapons, climb, craft, disable device, escape artist and use rope.

“The Bonez tell me nothing!” (no damage)

Loss of your dominant hand: -4 circumstance bonus to attacks with two handed weapons, climb, craft, disable device, escape artist, forgery, open lock, slight of hand and use rope.

Serious wound: DC 15. If failed ?2 to con, may be regained in 1d4 months.

Really Serious wound: DC 15. If failed ?3 to con, may be regained in 2d4 months.

Especially Serious wound: DC 16. If failed ?4 to con, may be regained in 2d4 months.

“The Bonez demand more!!! ” (roll on the Brain Bonez or roll a d8)

Loss of your passive arm: -5 to climb, craft, disable device, escape artist and use rope.

Loss of your dominant arm: -10 to climb, craft, disable device, escape artist, forgery, open lock, slight of hand and use rope.

Weathered: You have seen too much of life at its harshest, too many storms at sea, too many battles that you have barley survived. -1 to dexterity, strength and -2 to constitution. You are not yet dead +2 to reputation!

Worn: Life has not been kind to you. Too many years of battle, disease and abuse have demanded their sacrifice. -2 to dexterity, strength and -4 to constitution. But, by god, you may still have a little more fight left. +4 to reputation.

Mortal wound: must be attended by a doctor, DC 19. If failed death.

Dramatic Death: Your death will long be remembered and be celebrated in story & song.

Gruesome and Horrible Demise: Your demise will be spoken of in dark whispers and remembered with a quiet shudder.

“The Bonez tell me nothing!” (no damage)

Brain Bonez

1-2. Strange Quirk: You have developed a personal “tick” such as an odd swagger to your walk, or a distinctive way of speaking. +1 to reputation

3-4. Compulsive Disorder: You acquire a mannerism you continually repeat. Such as persistently sharpening your cutlass or shouting “I am not a dog! ” +2 to intimidate, -2 to hide and move silently.

5-6. Mild Phobia: You develop a slight irrational fear of something. When confronted by the thing that you fear, make a Will Save, DC 15. Success means you gain a + 1 Circumstance Bonus to all attack rolls, failure means you become shaken until you leave the presence of whatever is causing your fear. See Phobia List for examples.

7-8. Depression: Your experiences have left you world weary and somewhat bereft of hope. You tend to see the gloomy side of every situation and aren’t particularly fun to be around. -2 Charisma.

9-10. Kleptomania: You can’t resist taking small objects that have no particular value. Whenever you can steal a small object, without being noticed, make a Will Save; DC 15. Failure means you attempt to pocket the item. Sleight of Hand is now a class skill for you, however, you must do your best to keep the condition a secret from every one around you and if you are ever caught, you’ll deny it till your dying breath.

11-12. Mild Delusions: You believe things that simply aren’t true or perceive things that aren’t there, such as you are invincible. Make a Will Save; DC 10 or your delusions start kicking in.

13-14. Phobia: You develop a strong irrational fear of something. When confronted by the thing or condition that you fear, make a Will Save, DC 15. Success means that you are merely shaken, while failure means that you are frightened until you leave the presence of whatever is causing your fear. See Phobia List for examples.

15-16. Paranoia: They’re out to get you, you’re sure of it. You aren’t quite certain who they are, so you’re always watching to catch them at it. You trust no one. Whenever any stimulus occurs that could set off your paranoia, make a Will Save; DC 15. Success means that you can act, normally, but you have to do your best to “keep an eye” on whatever it was that set you off. Failure means that you are shaken and you loudly, publicly accuse your “enemies” of their “deceptions.”

17-18. Megalomania: The time has at last come for you to embrace your great destiny. The weak willed fools that once held you back must either be killed or showed to a place at your feet where they can be your lackeys. Only you have the foresight and the will to govern. All others are merely pawns, to be used and discarded at your whims. You get a +2 bonus to Will Saves and a +2 bonus to Intelligence. You must make a Will Save; DC 20 in order to tolerate orders of any kind, from anybody.

19. Major Phobia: You develop a completely irrational fear of some horrible thing. Anyone that doesn’t share your fear is, potentially, a lunatic or inhumanly brave. You actively go out of your way to avoid any situation that you reasonably suspect may expose you to the source of your phobia. Whenever confronted by the thing you fear, make a Will Save; DC 15. Success means that you are only frightened, while failure means that you are panicked until you leave the presence of whatever is causing your fear. See Phobia List for examples.

20. Powerful Delusions: You believe things that are blatantly untrue and perceive many things that aren’t there. Your delusions are eternally present, in one form or another. You have to make a Will Save with a DC 25 to even catch a glimpse of the “real” world or remain lucid for a brief time. Failure means you’re lost in your delusions and unreachable outside of their context for a few hours. Example: You’re an ancient dragon and you cannot understand why your “fiery breath” wasn’t more effective in stopping those horde robbers.